Hello Blog world!
I am been MIA because I was recooperating from getting my lovely wisdom teeth out last week. I am happy to say it is over and I'm feeling good! But more on that later.
The real reason for my post today is a shameless plug for a cause near and dear to my heart! 20 scholars from my Charter School in Chicago have been accepted AND have won scholarships to attend an enrichment program at Northwestern University this summer! This is an opportunity that has endless benefits. They will grow academically, be exposed to college life, and learn to make life changing goals for the future. However, these scholars live VERY far away from the Evanston campus, and most of their families cannot provide transportation to the program.
So, we are attempting to raise $6000 for busing to and from Evanston every day for these scholars. We really want them to be able to make the most of the opportunity they have worked so hard for. I can guarentee that any and all donations are directly benefiting the scholars I see every day.
If there is any way you can help, or if you just want some more information, please click the following link!
Thanks so much for your time!
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/stephanie-bartell/galapagos2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Done! - Brady
Sweaty, exhausted, sore, starving. In desperate need of a hot shower and coffee. Headed to Ann Sather with Kevin and Kelly to celebrate.
Friday, April 22, 2011
15 miles - Brady
Kelly, Kevin and I are running 15 miles together tomorrow morning. Eeeeeeeeee. We're heading out for a healthy dinner and lots of water tonight. Send us happy thoughts for strong legs and lungs.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Traveling - Brady
I just love it. I JUST LOVE IT. Almost nothing makes me happier. In the past 2 months, I've been to Siesta Key, Florida. Then to Seattle. Then, last weekend, to New Orleans. Two of those trips have been for conferences, but that doesn't bother me because I'm a major nerd.
New Orleans is amazing! I loved it so much. It's gorgeous. It's got tons of history. The food is incredible. The music is out of this world - I never liked jazz until I went there. The city's a little bit weird or eerie or haunting or something...not sure how to say it, but it's a good thing. Mysterious might be the best word, I guess. I just liked every single thing about the place. I was actually sick with a pretty brutal cold when I was there, but it was enough fun that every night I still stayed out late listening to music, eating good food, and watching all the crazies in the streets.
Traveling enriches my life in ways that I can't quite put into words. The only downside is that I find myself missing 100 places at once. I just want to be able to beam myself to my favorite coffee shop in Florida, The French Quarter, a rocky beach in Washington State, whenever I want.
If you want to see my pictures from the Big Easy, click here.
New Orleans is amazing! I loved it so much. It's gorgeous. It's got tons of history. The food is incredible. The music is out of this world - I never liked jazz until I went there. The city's a little bit weird or eerie or haunting or something...not sure how to say it, but it's a good thing. Mysterious might be the best word, I guess. I just liked every single thing about the place. I was actually sick with a pretty brutal cold when I was there, but it was enough fun that every night I still stayed out late listening to music, eating good food, and watching all the crazies in the streets.
Traveling enriches my life in ways that I can't quite put into words. The only downside is that I find myself missing 100 places at once. I just want to be able to beam myself to my favorite coffee shop in Florida, The French Quarter, a rocky beach in Washington State, whenever I want.
If you want to see my pictures from the Big Easy, click here.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Salvaging the Week -Amy
This is the last week at my school before spring break. I remember this feeling from last year, but I forgot how exausting it is. I feel like I am running a marathon trying to keep the kids engaged in lessons and working towards behavior goals. As the week goes, I have to work harder and harder as they slip more and more away. I love my little kiddos at school. They are a great group. But keep me in your thoughts to make it through this week. We all might make it out alive, and we may even learn something in the process... Then... on to one glorious week off! (Wish I was headed to Florida instead of getting wisdom teeth pulled... but you take what you can get I guess...)
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Billable Hours - Brady
I've been struggling for awhile with how to manage my time in graduate school. As nice as the flexibility of a student's schedule is, it can be hard to make yourself sit down and work on something that won't be due for months. And I think that time management is a big reason some people stay in PhD programs forever. (Which I do not want to do.)
Last quarter I started experimenting, trying out ways of organizing my time. I first tried working 9-5 every weekday. That was okay, except I ended up doing what a LOT of 9-5 workers do - which is procrastinating (making a snack, surfing the internet, etc.) instead of completing actual important projects. Plus, I was missing out on one of the cool benefits of being a grad student - freedom to decide where and when I want to work.
After that I tried setting goals for each week. I had to work until I met them. That meant that if I dilly-dallied I'd end up putting in hours over the weekend, but if I was super productive and finished all my goals by Thursday, Friday was all mine! No school! The problem with that strategy was that I'm not a good judge yet of how long research or writing an academic paper is going to take. And many of my goals are really long-term, so in order to make this system work I would have had to spend a bunch of time breaking down big goals into little ones. And I just didn't want to.
But now I've got it. I borrowed the idea of "billable hours" from lawyers. In the legal world, a billable hour is an hour in which an attorney is working on something for a client - something they can charge for. Many law firms have billable hour requirements for their staff. I appropriated this model and made myself my own boss. Every month, I have to "bill" 160 hours (40 hours a week for 4 weeks). "Billing" an hour means actually working on something - being in class, reading for school, running statistics for a project, etc. If I take a break to check my email or read a blog or make a snack, I have to stop counting time. This forces me to be productive but allows me the grad student flexibility I really enjoy. If one day I have to do a long run, for example, and don't want to get started with work until 10 a.m., I can just bill that 9-10 hour another time.
(Oh, and I have a detailed spreadsheet where I keep track of this. Nerd alert.)
This also gives me a chance to read interesting books or articles in my field that I'm not formally assigned for a class. For example, two weeks ago I had a light school week (called Spring Break) and didn't have 40 hours of "billable" work to do. So I made some - I read a book by the founder of Teach for America. I think exposing yourself to lots of different intellectual ideas, even if they're not part of the official curriculum of your program, is important in grad school.
So that's my brilliant solution. I'm loving it so far, and I think it will serve me well when I'm completely done with classes and have to depend on self-motivation to complete a dissertation.
Last quarter I started experimenting, trying out ways of organizing my time. I first tried working 9-5 every weekday. That was okay, except I ended up doing what a LOT of 9-5 workers do - which is procrastinating (making a snack, surfing the internet, etc.) instead of completing actual important projects. Plus, I was missing out on one of the cool benefits of being a grad student - freedom to decide where and when I want to work.
After that I tried setting goals for each week. I had to work until I met them. That meant that if I dilly-dallied I'd end up putting in hours over the weekend, but if I was super productive and finished all my goals by Thursday, Friday was all mine! No school! The problem with that strategy was that I'm not a good judge yet of how long research or writing an academic paper is going to take. And many of my goals are really long-term, so in order to make this system work I would have had to spend a bunch of time breaking down big goals into little ones. And I just didn't want to.
But now I've got it. I borrowed the idea of "billable hours" from lawyers. In the legal world, a billable hour is an hour in which an attorney is working on something for a client - something they can charge for. Many law firms have billable hour requirements for their staff. I appropriated this model and made myself my own boss. Every month, I have to "bill" 160 hours (40 hours a week for 4 weeks). "Billing" an hour means actually working on something - being in class, reading for school, running statistics for a project, etc. If I take a break to check my email or read a blog or make a snack, I have to stop counting time. This forces me to be productive but allows me the grad student flexibility I really enjoy. If one day I have to do a long run, for example, and don't want to get started with work until 10 a.m., I can just bill that 9-10 hour another time.
(Oh, and I have a detailed spreadsheet where I keep track of this. Nerd alert.)
This also gives me a chance to read interesting books or articles in my field that I'm not formally assigned for a class. For example, two weeks ago I had a light school week (called Spring Break) and didn't have 40 hours of "billable" work to do. So I made some - I read a book by the founder of Teach for America. I think exposing yourself to lots of different intellectual ideas, even if they're not part of the official curriculum of your program, is important in grad school.
So that's my brilliant solution. I'm loving it so far, and I think it will serve me well when I'm completely done with classes and have to depend on self-motivation to complete a dissertation.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Another post about my busy schedule - Kelly
Ay yi yi... here are my next few months:
- April 15- 17: I have a conference in Chicago
- April 18- 22: friend Jasmine is coming to visit
- April 29- May 5: Tucson (for fun) and Phoenix (for work)
- May 6- May 8: Indy for mini-marathon
- May 13-15: another conference in Chicago
- May 20-22: headed to Texas/Mexico to see a good friend
- May 27-30: another conference in Chicago
- June 12: move in to institute
- June 17-19: Minnesota for the marathon
- June 20: Institute starts
In other news, I got a small promotion at work for next year, marathon training is going well, and pretty much all I do these days is go to work and go running!
No complaints- it's still a pretty sweet life. :)
Happy Birthday, Dad! -Amy
Yesterday (April 3rd) was our fabulous father's birthday! He loves his birthday more than any adult that I know so he definitely deserves a little blog shout-out. We frequently get updates throughout the year about how many shopping days are left until his birthday and he's never shy about making plans or offering suggestions of what he might like. I LOVE this about my dad. He really takes the guess work out of birthday shopping and I love anyone that loves a good reason to celebrate!
He hung out at home with our Mom and his best canine pal, Buckner, for most of the day. Then he and my mom headed out to dinner at Brewster's in New Buffalo with Brady and Kevin. I made a surprise trip up from Chicago to join in the birthday dinner fun. After good wine, good italian food, and two great desserts, everyone was feeling the birthday love!
Happy Birthday, Dad! We love you!
He hung out at home with our Mom and his best canine pal, Buckner, for most of the day. Then he and my mom headed out to dinner at Brewster's in New Buffalo with Brady and Kevin. I made a surprise trip up from Chicago to join in the birthday dinner fun. After good wine, good italian food, and two great desserts, everyone was feeling the birthday love!
Happy Birthday, Dad! We love you!
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